“It will be a great match between two fantastic clubs and a great opportunity for the people of Qatar. It could be a Champions League final,” said Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti.

Programming note: For viewers in the United States, Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain is being shown exclusively on beIN SPORT, beIN SPORT Espanol and DishWorld. Even if you don’t have a TV subscription to beIN SPORT, you can access those channels via online streaming service DishWorld for $10/month. Read our review of DishWorld. And sign up for DishWorld via their website.

Carlo Ancelotti has picked 23 players for the match. Amongst those traveling are academy players Mejías, Casado, Llorente, Jaime and José Rodríguez. Cristiano Ronaldo will also make the trip and will feature in a scoring battle against Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

About Christopher Harris

Founder and publisher of World Soccer Talk, Christopher Harris is the managing editor of the site. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and several other publications. Plus he has made appearances on NPR, BBC World, CBC, BBC Five Live, talkSPORT and beIN SPORT.
Harris, who has lived in Florida since 1984, has supported Swansea City since 1979. He's also an expert on soccer in South Florida, and got engaged during half-time of a MLS game.
Harris launched EPL Talk in 2005, which was rebranded as World Soccer Talk in 2013.
View all posts by Christopher Harris →

You do realise that it’s part of their plan to go on about Qatar? Al Jazeera have paid a fortune to arrange this match specifically to ‘celebrate’ the rebranding of AJS to beIN Sports in the Middle East. The clubs didn’t intend on playing a friendly but were swayed into it with big money. It’s all part of their ongoing plan to become a worldwide brand in football ahead of Qatar 2022.

I’m watching on the beIN Middle East feed – I take it they’re feeding the same coverage through to the US, France and Indonesia then? Presuming Sky Sports have gone with their own studio.

I was only thinking about this the other day. I see the rebrand of Al Jazeera Sports to beIN in the Middle East as a big statement from them to get the same branding across the world – they have Richard Keys spouting that they’re ‘the biggest and the best in the world’ every week on the Premier League coverage!

I can see them going in for some Premier League packages next year or at the very least requesting a copy of the tender. Without the PL, they couldn’t justify running a UK service because it’s the main thing that sells subscriptions. They could certainly hoover up other rights as filler (European leagues) but the main problem here is the 3pm blackout – they couldn’t show half as much as they do in the Middle East and around the world + the money involved for Premier League rights domestically (with Sky and BT set to do battle again) is astronomical for what they can pick it up for in other countries.

If they don’t enter the UK market in time for the 2016 PL rights cycle, I think it’s highly likely they’ll do it in time for the 2019 cycle – that’s only 3 years away from the Qatar WC and perfect build up to show how amazing they are.

Will certainly be interesting to see how they progress and if they attempt to go in big against current rights holders for PL coverage – NBC, Canal+ etc.

I always state that politics and football are inexorably connected. Many of us (Americans, I mean) don’t realize this. I have noticed that since the start of BeIn there have been no real political statements…just football. For this I applaud. For the blatant suck job I just witnessed…my teeth hurt from the sugar.
Let’s just play and report football on BeIn. Leave the politics to Al Jazeera news station.

Looks like Peter Drury and Andy Gray will be commentating the game. The footage of them in the booth gave me a chance to see Drury on TV for the first time. I’ve heard his voice for years, but never seen him in front of a TV camera.

peter drury. Every weekend even yesterday we saw him there infront of television the “viewers in canada” reporting the team news by premierleague channel’s coverage. which is the coverage we use here. Same as jon champion.steve banyard &even martin tyler for one match which was man u vs everton this season.

Yeah I was going to write that earlier. Minimal cost for them with presenting from the UK. They probably would have liked to save on cost of sending their own commentators too if only Andy Gray wasn’t on comms

Did you get on to the little laugh from Richard Keys when he was saying how coverage will never be the same again? I think he knows how cheesy it is but he’s got to say it… and he’s got a point when it comes to their Middle Eastern coverage… the new line-up has 10 SD channels, 15 HD channels, a 24 hour sports news channel + NBA TV and FOX Sports bundled in to the package…

yeh.aljazeera sport is the cheapest station that covers sport around the globe.380 live pl matches. 380 la liga live matches. As well as french.italian league.russian. And champions league as well. World cups,euroes.with 14 us dollar per month. but the problem is their rights limited them to only middle east.

“but the problem is their rights limited them to only middle east” – I have a feeling that’s something they’re looking to change in the future.

The new channels in the Middle East now include French and Spanish language channels – to coincide with the coverage of the same leagues they offer in France and the US so they can do what they did today and ultimately broadcast to all countries at the same time.

I think big changes are ahead for sports broadcasting if they keep on growing and venturing out into other countries. I have to admit… I really enjoy their weekend Premier League coverage.